BY ROSE POST
SALISBURY POST

A Salisbury lawyer has won a multimillion dollar settlement for a South Carolina client — and changes in Chrysler Corp.’s Dodge Caravan shift lever.

The changes are aimed at eliminating a defect blamed for the death of a pregnant South Carolina woman and her unborn twins.

Chris Mauriello, a member of the Wallace and Graham firm of Salisbury, will discuss the case on ABC’s “Good Morning, America” in early February.

Kim Golden, 31, of Williamson, S.C., was killed on Feb. 22, 1998, when, according to Mauriello, the shift lever of her Dodge Grand Caravan slipped out of park into reverse and caused her death. She was 19 weeks pregnant.

She had just been to church and was delivering an audio tape of the service to Wanda Alexander at the time. She stepped out of her van, leaving the engine running and her 4-year-old daughter, Lindley inside. The lever somehow slipped out of park, Mauriello says. Golden ran after the van and opened the driver’s side door to get in, but the door knocked her over. The driver’s side wheel ran over her, killing her and the twins.

Alexander ran for her son, who lives behind her in a trailer. He tried to jack the van up to get the tire off of Golden but it was too late, Mauriello says.

“Witnesses saw her move her eyes and her head,” he says, but by the time paramedics arrived, it was too late.

“When we received the case,” Mauriello says, “we did some investigation and found two defects in the van.”

The first and the major defect was with the brake interlock system.

The vanwas not equipped with the locking device that prevents the shift lever from moving from park to reverse unless someone first steps on the brake pedal. Putting a foot on the brake pedal releases the car from the parking gear so the gears can be changed Mauriello explains. The device also prevents the lever from moving as a result of vibration or for some other reason, such as a child hitting it.

“One of the theories,” Mauriello says, “was that the little girl may have attempted to shut off a windshield wiper and nudged the transmission lever.”

All cars have them, says Mauriello, except the Dodge Caravan.

Because of this case, he says, they will be installed on future models. However, Chrysler could not be reached for comment.

The investigation, Mauriello says, also revealed a second defect.

“The indicator that tells what gear the transmission is in was misaligned so when the vehicle showed the driver it was in park, it really was between park and reverse, giving the driver a false reading.”

A confidentiality agreement required by Chrysler prohibits Mauriello from discussing the terms of the financial settlement reached on Dec. 4 beyond indicating that it was substantial.

However, people familiar with the case indicate Kim Golden’s husband, Todd, was awarded between $3 million and $4 million.

ABC’s consumer correspondent Greg Hunter and a television crew spent most of Friday in Anderson County, S.C., filming the story because of interest in a series of accidents from similar causes.

Mauriello, who is also representing people injured in the collapse of Lowe’s Speedway in Cabarrus County, will appear on the show.

Mauriello says he’s “very glad ‘Good Morning, America’ has picked up on the case because of the strong possibility that it may save someone’s life in the future. That makes me feel good.”

Todd Golden, who works in the instrument room for Duke Power Co., has remarried. His second wife is now pregnant with twins.